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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24749065">Brain Stew</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/EpiKatt/pseuds/EpiKatt'>EpiKatt</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Doctor Who &amp; Related Fandoms, Torchwood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Fever, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Light Petting, M/M, Making Out, Plague, Sickfic, Snogging, Time Travel, a reference to the john hart audio dramas, big finish audio dramas, ianto taking pity, john being vulnerable</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:01:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,448</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24749065</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/EpiKatt/pseuds/EpiKatt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>John, in a moment of weakness (he was helping people) managed to get a virus and is laid up. Eventually, he realizes he actually needs help and goes to Torchwood where Ianto takes pity. </p><p>(This is not a covid fic do not call it a covid fic)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, John Hart/Ianto Jones</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Brain Stew</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Wrote this all at once out of boredom and to scratch an itch where I wanted to see John sick. Unbeta'd but I'll probably read over it later. Title from Green Day.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>John had been investigating a planet with an outbreak of a new plague when he realized that this was one he hadn’t been vaccinated from. By that point he figured it was too late and stayed to mop up the remains of the plague. If anyone asked him why he actually helped people out, his response would be that he was bored, which was actually fairly accurate. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Leaving the planet and returning to his flat without any symptoms, he hoped that he’d made it out sick-free, but when he woke up the next morning cold yet sweaty, he resigned himself to being sick. The only way to get over the infection they’d found was to stay as hydrated as possible and to wait it out, but the hard part was to keep the fluids in as throwing up near constantly was a problem. Lack of water resulted in too high a temperature and then their brain would boil and- well- you know. Some extreme cases would include skin falling off, and John seriously hoped he didn’t get to that point.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So John was understandably not pleased to force his aching body out of bed and to trudge his way into the kitchen, pouring a glass of water and then swallowing it all down at once before filling another glass and drinking about half. He stared bleary-eyed into the glass, watching it ripple occasionally for several minutes before realizing what he was doing and tore his gaze away, picking the glass up with shaky hands and walking slowly to the couch.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looked at the coffee table for a moment, body swaying slightly before he set it down and fell onto the couch, ripping the blanket off the back of the couch and pulling it over him, shivering uncontrollably. He belatedly realized that his attention span wasn’t quite correct and felt a vague sense of concern, as he’d only seen it in the more serious cases. Not quite skin-loss serious but just below it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Despite only being awake ten minutes, John felt his eyes slipping shut already, achy body melting onto the couch, and was asleep before he knew it. He woke up to the overwhelming feeling of nausea and fell off the couch, legs tangled in his blanket before he managed to wrestle his way out and run on weak legs to the bathroom, falling to the ground hard enough that his knees made a loud crack on the tile. He was hardly able to lean over the ledge before retching, throwing up yesterday’s meals and some of the water from earlier. His body convulsed painfully with each retch, shaking in between. When there came a longer break, he rested his sweaty face on the side of the bowl, panting and shivering. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bloody hell,” he muttered, running a shaky hand through his sweaty, unkempt hair. A few more dizzying minutes passed before he was hunched back over, dry heaving since he’d already expelled everything inside him. His body seemed to finally get the idea and stopped, giving him the chance to drag himself up and find a dusty glass in the cabinet over the sink and filled it, drinking it all desperately. His throat felt raw, and the water soothed it a little. A wave of dizziness hit him and his legs turned to spaghetti, falling to the ground and hitting his head against the toilet. His last thought before passing out was </span>
  <em>
    <span>how embarrassing. </span>
  </em>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Waking up was hell, his head felt like his brain was rotting slowly and his body felt far too heavy. His eyes widened when his body realized he was awake and therefore able to puke. He was barely able to get his body upright enough to get it into the toilet, throwing up the water he’d just drank. When the retching stopped, he decided that he might possibly need help. If he continued like this, he’d be dead in two days. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blurry eyes slowly focused onto his VM, his face managing a weak sneer before he slowly typed in the right coordinates, his fingers feeling slightly disconnected as he did so. He braced himself before pushing the button, knowing that he’d arrive on the other side worse off than he already was. He could at least be semi-thankful that there was again nothing left to throw up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pressing the button had him stumbling through the vortex, rather than flying. His stomach roiled and roiled and the vortex tossed him around as he didn’t have the energy to stabilize it. The vortex spat him out several feet in the air, causing him to crash down into the main part of the Hub, just missing the work station a few feet away. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>John’s ears were buzzing too much and the world was spinning too fast around him for him to be able to hear or see the team racing toward him, having heard his rather loud entrance. He did, however, feel a warm, broad hand on his shoulder and he leaned into it eagerly. His body was still wracked with hard shivers, even if he was also drenched in sweat. The buzzing finally diminished, leaving him able to hear the arguing behind him. He rolled onto his back, squinting over at them. Jack seemed to notice John was lucid and came back over, crouching next to him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“John, why are you here?” Jack asked lowly, eyeing John carefully.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“”Cause I’m dying, you worthless sod,” he growled, turning his head to hack painfully, the coughing jarring his body painfully.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What managed to infect you? We’re vaccinated against nearly everything,” Jack asked, puzzled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>John groaned into his shoulder, just realizing he was clothed in just his pants, and that in itself was a miracle. “Was one I wasn’t vaccinated against, obviously, now could you just bloody help me?” he muttered, curling into himself when another shiver went through him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jack sighed, rolling his eyes. “Ianto, come help me put John in the medical bay, Owen, ready up some IV’s, I’m assuming he’ll need pain meds or something,” Jack ordered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A moment later, John’s whole world shifted and it was spinning once more before he realized that he’d just been picked up. The table was cold when he was placed on it, causing him to shiver harder. A hand was placed on his forehead and he heard a surprised swear.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bloody hell he’s hot, Tosh, pass me the thermometer,” Owen instructed, removing his hand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Didn’t know you had a thing for me, doc,” John muttered, unable to muster the energy to be any louder.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Christ, mate, nearly bloody hot enough to boil your innards and you’re still flirting,” Owen said, sounding just a little amused. John just managed a weak shrug. A second later there was something hard pressed to his forehead, which he blearily guessed was a thermometer. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Blimey, he’s at forty degrees. Might need an ice bath if it doesn’t go down. Remind me again, Jack, why are we helping him?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>John never did hear the end of that, as he felt a sharp prick in his neck and promptly passed out. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For a while after that, he remembered only in flashes. One was in a tub of ice, another was when they had him on his side while gagging, nothing coming up. He wasn’t really sure, but at one point he thought he felt a hand combing through his hair gently.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When he woke up for real, he found himself in a dark room with an IV in his arm, presumably giving him fluids. He blinked slowly, feeling very drugged up as well. Frowning, he dragged his head to the side and saw Ianto slumped in a chair beside him, asleep. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He giggled for a moment, feeling delirious. He was unsure of what was funny, but couldn’t help himself. The sound roused Ianto, causing his head to snap up while he blinked, eyes focusing on John’s form. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“Eye Candy, looking beautiful as ever,” he purred, giving him an exaggerated once over. Ianto didn’t look amused.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What? What’s that look for? I’m dying, you can’t- you can’t look at me like that,” he said indignantly, words slurring together.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ianto sighed, but was holding back a smile. “John, you aren’t dying any longer, we got your temperature down and now we’re just waiting for the virus to run its course. And your doped up to your eyeballs, so excuse me if I don’t find your compliments very complimenting,” Ianto mused, scooting the chair a little closer to John’s bed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>One of John’s muscles spasmed, causing him to groan and flinch. “Shouldn’t those sexy meds of yours cover muscle spasms?” he complained.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wouldn’t know; Owen had to alter the medication slightly when Jack told him you were allergic to one of the ingredients,” Ianto explained, reaching forward to card his hands through John’s still-sweaty hair. John could only sigh and lean into the touch like a cat. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The others won’t say anything, but we were all rather worried about you. You got pretty bad for a while, even Owen got nervous,” he said quietly, continuing his ministrations to John’s hair.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where’re the others?” John asked roughly, finally realizing they were alone and that Ianto hadn’t tried to get someone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Item retrieval, and we needed someone to watch you, so I volunteered,” Ianto murmured, brushing a thumb up and down John’s forehead soothingly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t remember you ever being this nice to me, Eye Candy,” John murmured back, mind too hazy to really think, but even the thought of kindness was enough to pierce the haze.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ianto sighed, but didn’t stop petting John’s forehead gently. “Seeing you this vulnerable kind of changes perspective, I suppose, though you were muttering some rather depressing things in your sleep that Jack confirmed were true, so I feel bad.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>John let out a breathless chuckle, turning his head to look at Ianto completely. “Yeah? What’d I say?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Something about your parents being killed in front of you, I imagine you were reliving a conversation with someone else. You also kept talking about amusement park mascots, which only Jack seemed to understand but wouldn’t explain. Since you’re awake, I want answers, and if you want me to keep petting you, you’ll tell me,” Ianto threatened lightly, as he was smiling.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>John smiled a wry grin, reaching up and weakly holding Ianto’s wrist, but just to hold, not to hinder movement. “We were on a weird creepy planet together where mascots were kidnapping people. One good thing came out of that place though,” John said thoughtfully.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ianto grinning fully now, able to read between the lines enough to see John had a fear of mascots. “Yeah? What was it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The inhabitants didn’t know what sex was, me an’ Jack shagged all the residents silly, their libidos rivaled even ours,” he explained fondly, the hazy look in his eyes more from reliving the memories rather than the virus. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why am I not surprised,” Ianto mused, stroking John’s cheekbone gently.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>John hummed, eyes drifting shut when some more pain meds went into his system.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I expect a nice snog before I go, Eye Candy,” John murmured, words slurring.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think I can arrange that,” was what he heard before falling asleep.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>When he next woke up, he knew it had been a while. The room was empty so he slowly sat up and looked at his VM, eyebrows rising when he saw it’d been three days since he arrived. Eye Candy was right, he had been rough. It was the middle of the night, which explained the empty room, so he gently pulled out the IV and slid out of bed, looking down distastefully at the pyjama pants he was wearing, guessing they were one of Jack’s.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It took a few minutes of hugging the wall before he made it into the main part of the Hub, following the hallway. He couldn’t help but smile a little at the sight of Ianto asleep on the couch, head tilted back and mouth open. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>John was a little curious as to why he wasn’t down with Jack in his little bunker, shagging the night away like bunnies. In any case, he figured this was a good a time as any to get his goodbye snog before leaving, because yes of </span>
  <em>
    <span>course </span>
  </em>
  <span>he remembered something like Eye Candy agreeing to snog him senseless.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stopped beside the couch near Ianto’s head and leaned over slightly, shaking his shoulder gently to wake him up. John was a little surprised at how good he felt, but figured it was leftover from the drugs. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ianto snapped awake with a snort, mid-snore. He blinked the sleep from his eyes before his eyes settled on an amused John. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’re you doing up?” he asked, voice gravelly from sleep. John found it sexy as hell and felt his cock twitch a little.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Figured I’d overstayed my welcome, came to get my goodbye snog before heading back to home sweet home,” he explained, raising an eyebrow suggestively.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ianto cursed quietly, shoulders slumping. “Damn, thought you wouldn’t remember that, but I should have known, with how long you’ve been trying to get in my trousers.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>John just smirked. “Well?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ianto grimaced and rolled his eyes, grabbing the back of John’s neck and pulling him in. John only managed to make a noise of surprise before Ianto’s mouth was on his. Ianto wasted no time in shoving his tongue into John’s mouth and putting it to use.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When Ianto pulled away looking far too smug, it took John a minute to realize his mouth was still open and he was panting. “Well, Eye Candy, didn’t know you had it in you,” he said breathlessly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ianto just laughed and gave him one last lingering kiss before shoving him away. “Now get out so I can erase that footage,” Ianto ordered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Tell the team I appreciate their help and will find out a way to thank them,” he said, giving Ianto one last wink before pressing the button.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“See you around, Eye Candy,” he called, disappearing with a flash.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was a few weeks later when they got their thank you gift from John, in the form of a device that he personally programmed to give them information, rather than their cobbled together versions they’ve scavenged from the rift. A week later and there was suddenly a black cat in the Hub with a name tag attached with a note that read: </span>
  <em>
    <span>Found him in an alley, thought Eye Candy would appreciate it. His name is Void. Take care of him, toodles!</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>          Love,</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>             Cpt. John H.</span>
  </em>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>P.S. I’d kill for another one of Eye Candy’s kisses, boy knows how to snog. :)</span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you enjoyed! Now, if you're reading this it means you like John, so this news should hopefully interest you. I am working on the sequel to "Stab you in the heart" and it's currently at 12k, it's taking me a while but it will be longer! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, I just wanted to make my boy hurt while also making it Johnto for a friend. Fuck you you know who you are &lt;3<br/>This one is pretty much dedicated to her. Hope it fullfilled your hopes and dreams.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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